After some more testing I would say the new version works much better than before I would consider this fixed

Another small one.. .this time a suggestion:
Towbar OXP has some way to react to the towed ship's mass (I guess) by reducing maneuverability a bit when the towed ship is heavy.
I guess adding something similar to the Escort Deck when heavy (or several small...) escorts are docked would add a bit 'reality feeling'. In combat situations the ships are not docked anyway most of the time, so it does not block really.

Thanks, I added into my todo. Note this feature caused shaking at some players so there is a variable in towbar.js to disable it. From Oolite v1.81 maxPitch is writable so a stable solution is possible.

Similar idea to reduce thrust so need more time to reach the max. speed and harder to break. This is also possible from Oolite v1.81.

I just savaged two ships with my new DTT Kraken, I noticed instead of towing them they docked as escorts

The docking radius of Escort Deck is larger (800m) than the arm of Towbar (100m automatically, 200m if you prime and activate towbar equipment) so if you have space on your deck and the salvage is enough small then your deck will catch it to leave the single space on towbar to a larger salvage.
You can override this by removing your target lock from the derelict ship due to the deck need active lock for pickup but towbar can catch it without lock also.
If you forgot to remove the target lock and pick up accidentally to the deck then prime the deck, use mode key ("b") until you select the salvage, activate ("n") to release it, then turn back and approach it without target lock.

Quote:

I returned to the pirate cove to sell them and I can't?

The salvages both on deck and towbar should be sold on mission screens right when you dock into any station. You can not sell these by hand in a station (not implemented due to should be removed automatically when you arrived) but in the space you can release and sell using a Tug Drone, although this method is pay well only with large targets, especially if too large to tow.

I am currently carrying two Wolf Mark I (beautiful ship that is) and a Granite Fer-de-Lance as escort.

I jumped into a system, headed close to the sun and entered a Kiota Relay station. Saved there. No problems. Did not exit or load game.
Exited the station and headed to the sun to scoop fuel. I encountered a lonely fugitive Fer-de-lance which immediately opened laser and missile fire. My escorts jumped from deck and within 5 seconds killed that ship. Then I found that there were only two escorts on the scanner. Checking the log:

I was not even close to the witchpoint. To prove that the Wolf did not get destroyed when entering the system and I just didn't realize, I loaded the savegame I created when I was in the Relay station. And yes, the Wolf is still there. It got lost between exiting the relay station and the kill of the fugitive.

Strange, I have no idea where can I start to fix it, at least there is no such feature which can teleport escorts from the Sun to the Witchpoint.
Please install [wiki]LogEvents[/wiki], maybe we can see more in the log next time.

Strange, I have no idea where can I start to fix it, at least there is no such feature which can teleport escorts from the Sun to the Witchpoint.
Please install [wiki]LogEvents[/wiki], maybe we can see more in the log next time.

Ok, installed it.
...and it happened again that TWO escorts of mine died at the Witchpoint beacon. Plus the other problem I am still having, my escorts ramming me when docking when they are on full speed. They don't seem to throttle/avoid collision actively.

I post the log from where I exited the planet's aegis.
Wolf Mark I 21796
Wolf Mark I 25083
Granite Fer-de-Lance 5874
Those are my escorts.

Edit: Ok, I did some investigation in your code
To me it looks like you make the escorts land on Injectors if they are 2500m away when they get the docking order... and if I don't go in the same direction on Injectors myself, they can't react to being too close to me.

Edit2: I changed the PLAYER_FAR distance from 2500 to 10000 and now this feels much better
In Docking most of the time there is no rush involved, so I would suggest that.

Thank you, in v1.3 based on your suggestion I increased the distance without Injectors to 5km and the landing check timer further to 5 times/sec, plus a workaround maybe prevent the escort termination by Witchpoint Beacon, please try it.

The warning about Gecko_DS.png is a case sensitivity bug in DeepspaceShip.oxp, you can fix it in your machine by renaming gecko_DS.png in Textures.

I had a short check with a few fights, no witchpoint beacon death to announce for the moment
Also, the docking collision issue looks good right now.

I will have more checks in the following days

To avoid you running idle, I have another one or two... sorted by priority

1) With three escorts, it was not able to go start the Witchspace engine. I needed to go on Injectors right before the countdown finished. Otherwise the witchspace jump was cancelled with the message that one of my escorts is too close. Now, I found myself a nice looking Granite Asp for the collection, and with four escorts, Witchspace jump does not only need Injector speed but Torus speed While Injector drive is somehow maintainable, Jump drive makes this very cumbersome. The interesting point here is, that with three escorts, the "blocking" escort was the third one, with four escorts, the "blocking" one is the fourth one. For Reference, I now have two Wolf, one Granite Fer-de-lance and one Granite Asp.

2) Often when docking an escort successfully, there is quite a shield damage to my ship. Four docking ships in quick succession bring my Cobra (already fitted with a few enhancements) dangerously low on shields. I don't know if that shield damage is expected? It is very variable though, I believe it is depending on the speed of the escort when docking, or the speed difference, but I may be totally wrong on that suspicion. This is even worse when after a battle the only ship is gone and the alert goes from red to green - automatically docking the escorts. I know I can prevent them docking by sending them out again. It is just that I may need a quick breather and there comes the first escort
In the Log there is the following:
18:22:15.941 [LogEvents]: Player taking shield damage from Wolf Mark I 31695 110+110 shield and 253 energy left
18:22:15.943 [LogEvents]: Player collided with Wolf Mark I 31695
The Log does not show how much damage it did to me. I just tried it a few times (just undock at full shields, wait 10 seconds and redock) and my aft shields are always around halved (from 256 to around 120).

3) Sometimes there are graphical glitches: Pressing P while viewing the Aft look (F2) moves the EscortDeck and the docked ships a little "forwards" and "backwards". Same from the outside views from the side. Sometimes after leaving a station, the first glance on F2 makes the docked ships jump backwards on the EscortDeck in about 5 Steps to their "final" location.

Granite and Hard ships has doubled mass (density=2 in shipdata.plist) and on the deck these seems to be too close. Thanks for the report, until fixed you can simply launch them before jump, they will follow you and land on the deck before you arrive into the new system.

Quote:

when docking an escort successfully, there is quite a shield damage to my ship.

This is fixed in Oolite v1.81 by put collisionException to the landed ships, but I will check for a workaround in 1.80 also.

Quote:

Pressing P while viewing the Aft look (F2) moves the EscortDeck and the docked ships a little "forwards" and "backwards". Same from the outside views from the side.

This is a core "feature". The deck is moved in each frame after the movement of the player ship, but the mover js code is not called when paused so the displacement since the last frame is not corrected. No problem if you stop first.

Quote:

after leaving a station, the first glance on F2 makes the docked ships jump backwards on the EscortDeck in about 5 Steps to their "final" location.

These "steps" are made by my script to fix another 1.80-only collision problem and determine the closest position where no collision between the player and escort.

Done in v1.4:
- Collision fixes, needed before Oolite 1.81.
- Granite ships on deck does not prevent hyperjump anymore.
- From 1.81 slower steering and acceleration in proportion with the mass on deck.

Third check... well, it happened once that I was not able to start the witchspace engine (again the Granite Asp blocking), on the second try it worked. Maybe a corner case. But hey, I jumped! Other than that... AWESOME!

----

Ok, to be more precise, it is now happening that right after leaving station, I get a very slight shield damage (which is somewhat strange but not worrying because the shields are full and after 5 seconds they are full again). Docking of escorts right after a fight - no problem. Since last version update still not one single ship lost due to the Witchpoint beacon.

The reason is every time a jump started all escorts shifted back a bit (you can see this in the rear or external views) and two shifts together was enough. If the problem persists then you can press the jump key 3 times (start-stop-start) for the same effect without waiting for the first countdown.